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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23020333">In the cradle of my arms</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimperSoldier/pseuds/WhimperSoldier'>WhimperSoldier</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidental Baby Acquisition, Gen, Momma Yen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:01:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23020333</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimperSoldier/pseuds/WhimperSoldier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"You were very quiet today, little one," She questioned, smiling when the little girl squealed when Yen wiggled her fingers through the cradle's bars and onto the baby's tummy. "Not even a single cry! What a day you must be having!"</p>
<p>Most days were not quiet. The babe howled like a cat when she was hungry and sobbed pitifully when Yen left her range of sight as if she had misplaced her completely instead of her walking into their parlor. </p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>The baby princess lives.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pre-Relationship - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>101</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the cradle of my arms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was in my drafts for months, only called "Momma Yen" because you know damn well she would be a good mom.</p>
<p>Also I have not read the books and can't beat the games so don't @ me with inconsistencies!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yennifer had never taken care of her half-siblings growing up, never experienced the multifaceted job that was being a parent, a fact she was sorely regretting now that it was only her and a screaming baby girl tucked into her chest.</p>
<p>The little princess wailed into the cold ocean air, screaming her little lungs out for a mother who left her and was now decaying on some bloody split of sand. Yennifer looked at the little girl's scrunched red face, her little hands wringing around her cold neck.</p>
<p>There was a knife embedded in her shoulder that pulled when she rocked the child but the motion helped settle the babe into snooty sniffles that quieted as Yen's adrenaline faded,  leaving behind only the yawning uncertainty that clawed at her guts.</p>
<p>The child had been her only thought from the moment she had seen the queen lying dead on the sand and yet now she couldn't think of a single place to go to, one person to ask for help, any home to return to.</p>
<p>For one wild moment she wanted to call Tissaia, to feel the calming press of her fingers into the meat of her shoulder and the knowing settle into her stomach that she was not alone.</p>
<p>Instead, she stood on shaky legs and wrapped the soiled blanket tighter around the child and raised her arm. Her magic was sluggish and thick in her veins, like a viscous sludge she had to pull out.</p>
<p>The portal rocked and swayed with the strong wind but held, and before she could think about the implications of stealing a child, even one whose father wanted her dead, she walked forward and left the blood-stained sand behind her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The town would do.</p>
<p>It was small, run by an enterprising lord who had either run all other sorcerers away or confined them to work for him. </p>
<p>As of now, he had left her alone and business was booming. It was almost fun in a way magic hadn't been in decades, fixing these little problems and seeing the people shower her with praise. The king she had served had repaid her work with a snide remark and a disregarding hand wave. </p>
<p>The child, who as of now had remained unnamed, was cooing softly at the fairy lights she had enchanted above her wooden cradle.</p>
<p>The once princess was too young to remember her last cradle which had been inlaid with gold and semi-precious stones but seemed to prefer the wood to chew on as she rocked back on her heels and reached up to bat the lightly bobbing lights.</p>
<p>Yen smiled as her last clients raced excitedly to the door. She stood and made her way to the cradle.</p>
<p>Anemone, Yen had taken to calling her this week. Last week it was Tansy. The week before that, Lavender. She figured she would find one she liked, some bloom that fit the bright eyes and little tuffs of downy brown hair she had. She quite liked this week, she would see if it stuck in a way the others hadn't.</p>
<p>"You were very quiet today, little one," She questioned, smiling when the little girl squealed when Yen wiggled her fingers through the cradle's bars and onto the baby's tummy. "Not even a single cry! What a day you must be having!"</p>
<p>Most days were not quiet. The babe howled like a cat when she was hungry and sobbed pitifully when Yen left her range of sight as if she had misplaced her completely instead of her walking into the parlor. The compromise was a light masking spell carved into the wood and the babe would watch Yen wave her hands and cast magic all day.</p>
<p>The reality of the child was not quite what she had been expecting, if Yen was honest. She had gotten half the equation correct, this little girl would grow up, perhaps choose to do something spectacular with her life, maybe wish to carry on Yennifer's name, something to outlive her. A legacy to leave.</p>
<p>But the child was, surprisingly but also obviously unsurprising, a complete person. Or she would be.</p>
<p>Already she favored apples over oranges, liked waving sticks over playing with dolls, had preferences and dislikes and a little personality Yennifer could see even now.</p>
<p>She had also forgotten that with children came the mess. And the dippers. And the crying.</p>
<p>So the town was small, but Yennifer felt confident that it would be a good place to start, to find her daughter somewhere to grow in safety and peace. She was a princess after all, and Yennifer was nothing if not good at helping royalty.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The lord was a fat rude little man who bullied the people and threw lavish parties in his house on a hill.</p>
<p>He also, incidentally, had a whole unused wing dedicated to the children he did not have. Yennifer did so hate to see things go to waste.</p>
<p>Anemone, Ane, had grown like a weed, walking and then running in such a way Yennifer was sure was solely unique to her, because how could any child match her in beauty or skill? Only her daughter.</p>
<p>Watching her daughter eat was one of the most spiritual moments Yen had in her life. She had felt the burning of an empty stomach, knew the cramps and painful clenches that came with hunger, and so she took unabashed joy in watching her daughter pick apart her meal until her little belly was full and then ask for dessert.</p>
<p>"I brought you cake." Said the man standing at the head of her table, bloodied and carrying the small bowl of dessert in one hand and a man in the other.</p>
<p>Yennifer's first response was to blast the man out the door and then out the nearest window and then perhaps down the cliff, her second response was to realize he was holding up his friend who appeared to be choking on his own blood.</p>
<p>Her daughter had helped her with wounds before, but even so, she scooted back in fear when the bleeding man waved pitifully from where he was slumped on the larger man's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Darling, finish your dinner, mommy has business to handle." Yennifer said, walking forward and taking the bowl from the man's outstretched hand and sliding it down to her daughter. To the man, she tilted her head to the stairs. "Come along."</p>
<p>The man, Jaskier she was told, had been attacked by a jinn and was now dying. Yennifer had done trickier work before, so the simple brewing was little trouble. With his friend thoroughly asleep to help heal, she all but pushed the man into the sunken bath.</p>
<p>Clean of blood and viscera, he was quite handsome eating at her table. Ane watched him idly, little feet kicking back and forth but back staying perfectly straight. Yennifer ran a soft hand down the back of her head and from the raised eyebrow, the man, a Witcher she had deducted, had questions.</p>
<p>"Darling, why not go grab the man some cold cream from the cellar?" Yennifer asked and watched her daughter's eyes light up. </p>
<p>With a small little curtsey, she stopped before the Witcher. She might have laughed, the way the fearsome man watched her daughter as if she might grow fang or claws. She might have been more worried if she hadn't seen the delicate way he had brushed a stray lock of hair from Jaskier's face before they had left the room. Yen might not trust his love, but she would trust that he knew if she wanted to, she could kill the man lounging in comfort on top of her goose-down duvet. </p>
<p>"Might you like strawberries on yours, Sr. Witcher, sir?" She politely asked. The Witcher smiled lightly at her rocking back and forth on the heels of her shoes.</p>
<p>"If it is no trouble," He responded just as polietly. It was only when he daughter raced from the room, happy to be the hostess, that the man turned back to her. "I thought all sorceresses made certain… concessions upon their graduation."</p>
<p>What a polite monster she had dining with her.</p>
<p>"She is mine in all ways that matter."</p>
<p>The man nodded once and then tucked into the soup. She wondered if all men would take her response with such aplomb. When her daughter raced back in with her little hands wrapped tightly around the bowl, she had to hold back her smile and the kisses she wanted to rain down on her little curled head.</p>
<p>In the morning, Yen decided, she would send the pair on their way. They seemed unlikely to report her and even less likely to be believed if they did. </p>
<p>Yes, she resolved, the handsome man would go and take his equally handsome traveling companion with him and she would mourn that they hadn't stumbled into her home when Ane had been visiting the elf doctor in town for lessons and she had visitors in every room showcasing <em>everything.</em></p>
<p><em>Tomorrow,</em> Yen thought, <em>yes, tomorrow they will go.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And then they all get together and raise a gaggle if children.</p>
<p>Hit me up on tumblr @ whimper-soldier</p></blockquote></div></div>
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